17 October 2027
Bible readings for today
Liturgical Colour: GREEN Today is also Tikanga Youth Sunday |
CollectE te Atua mutunga kore nāu i hōmai kia kotahi te iriiri mō te murunga hara;
tukua mai ki a mātou kua whānau mai i te wai, i te wairua hoki i hangā nei hei pononga mā te Karaiti kia kotahi ai i roto i te whakapono whakaroto me te mahi whakawaho; Ko Īhu Karaiti tō mātou Ariki. Āmine. Eternal God, you have given us one baptism for the remission of sins; grant that we who are born of water and the Spirit and made members of Christ, may be one in inward faith and outward service; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. |
Seek to Serve (Mark 10:35-45)
Today's gospel reading is about understanding that in Jesus’ eyes, serving and being kind to others is what makes us great.
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Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”
“What do you want me to do for you?” he asked. They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.” “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” “We can,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.” When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” [Mark 10:35-45 NIV] |
Leaders Input
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A reflection on Mark 10:35-45
I always smile when I hear James and John, those Sons of Thunder, burst forth with their little request. I particularly love the ramp-up: Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” (Mark 10:35 NRSV) That, my friend, is honesty in prayer. None of the familiar Gethsemane hedging: “Not my will, but thine be done!” No, this is straightforward human nature face to face with God. Every time I pray I want God to do whatever I ask of him. It seems nearly universal. Take a look at the books on prayer that have been really big sellers in recent decades: A whole lot of what we want to know about prayer is how to get God to ANSWER and to answer with EXACTLY what we ask for. We really like those bits in John’s Gospel where Jesus promises that God will grant whatever we ask in his name... [read the rest of the reflection here] |
Gospel Conversations 2024: It's lucky for us that the disciples were a thoroughly human bunch, as it gave Jesus the chance to teach them about problems which pop up in every group of human beings. Who's the greatest? Jesus' response challenges some deeply-felt beliefs of our culture. Mike is joined by Steve Benford from the UK, John Goodwin from Auckland, and Natalie Millikan from Dunedin this week.
Gospel Conversations 2021: The disciples have almost made it to Jerusalem and they still don't get it. John Franklin, Gillian Townsley and Jeremy Nicolls join Michael to discuss James and John's ambitions and the indignant remaining disciples. You'll find some insights here you may not have thought of before!
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Joke: The Greatest GolferIt’s a beautiful day and three people go golfing. The first guy, Moses, steps up the tee and hits the ball which lands smack in the middle of the lake. Moses goes over to the lake, touches his gold club to the water, the waters part and he walks up to the ball and hits it out. The ball lands 2 metres from the hole. Moses steps back and smiles.
The next man, Jesus, comes up to the tee. He hits the ball and watches as it lands on a lily pad in the centre of the lake. Jesus walks on the water and, arriving at the lilypad, hits the ball which lands 1 metre from the hole. Happily he walks back to stand with Moses. Then the last person steps up and hits the ball. It’s a wild swing and the ball heads straight into the lake, but just as it hits the surface, a frog pops up and grabs the ball in its mouth. Then a huge bird, flying overhead, swoops down, grabs the frog and starts to fly away. The frog is so frightened that he spits out the ball just as they pass over the roof of a nearby house. The ball goes into the gutter, come down the drain pipe, rolls down the hill and lands directly in the hole! “A hole in one,” he excitedly yells! Jesus looks at him and says, “Gee dad, it’s only a game! Games: Memory Verse GameMemory Verse Game
What you need
What you do
Game: Being A ServerWhat you need
What you do Ask for 2 volunteers Put one pile of 10-12 cups at each end of the first table Give each player a tray Instruct the players that when you say ‘go’ they are to unstack their cups, put them on the tray the right way up, run to the other table, unload them without any tipping over. The first one to do this wins. If any cups fall off, they need to start again from the first table. If you have time, allow other pairs to compete. Note to leaders: Try this out using the cups and trays before you do it with your group. If you have a small tray, you’ll need fewer cups. Also, very light cups might blow over too easily. If that’s the case, you can put a few lego blocks or other small objects in each cup (rather than having them stacked to begin with). Game: Simon SaysWhat you need:
Nothing What you say: Who hear knows the game ‘Simon says’? I bet almost all of you do. In this game, whoever is ‘Simon’ gets to tell the rest of us what to do. If Simon says, “Simon says touch your nose” then everyone has to touch their nose. If Simon says, “Simon says jump up and down 3 times” then everyone has to jump up and down 3 times. But if Simon tells us to do something without saying “Simon says” then we can’t do it. In other words, you only do things the “Simon says” to do. Let’s try it. I’ll be Simon first (give 5-10 commands, most with “Simon says”). Let’s try again. Let’s have someone else come up and be Simon. (in some circumstances choose someone in advance). This time, if you do something that Simon hasn’t told you to do, sit down. (Again play for awhile). Well done all of you who are still standing! Ok, everyone can sit down now. When I asked who would like to be Simon - a lot of you raised your hands. It’s fun being Simon because we get to think up funny things for others to do and we get to order people around. Simon is the most powerful player in the game and a lot of people like to be able to tell other people what to do. Sometimes we need to do that and sometimes we might like to just be a bit bossy. But today’s reading talks about that. When Jesus hears that James and John want to sit in special seats and be important, he thinks that maybe his other disciples feel the same way. I mean who wouldn’t want to get the special seats. So Jesus needs to talk to them and help them understand that being powerful, having the best seats and being able to tell other people what to do wasn’t what being Jesus’ friend was all about. And you know what? It’s not about those things today either. It can be a little hard to understand because when we’re at work or at school or playing with our friends, other people can tell us what to do and we think they’re more important or special. But Jesus said that the way God sees things, the greatest people aren’t the most powerful or the richest or the smartest, the greatest people are the ones that help and serve others! |
Talk: Who Is The Greatest?Jesus and his friends were walking down the road. Jesus was talking about some things that would happen to him. He said his enemies would be so angry that they would kill him, but he also promised that he would be alive again. Most of Jesus’ friends were listening really carefully to everything that Jesus said. But not James and John. They weren’t really listening because they were busy thinking about something else. They were thinking about something they wanted Jesus to do for them. James and John (like a lot of other people) thought that Jesus was going to be crowned king while he was alive and being able to sit next to a king would be a really important thing to do. Only special people got to sit right next to royalty!
So they went to Jesus privately and said, "We want you to do something for us." "What do you want me to do?" Jesus asked. "When you are sitting on your throne, let us sit in the chairs on each side of you." Jesus told them, "Only God gets to decide who sits next to me." When Jesus' other friends heard what James and John had asked for themselves, they were pretty angry with both of them. Jesus called all twelve of them together for a meeting. He said "You know how it is with kings. They’re powerful. They get whatever they want and they get to tell other people what to do. But that’s not the way it should be with you. The one who is most important among my friends is not the person whole is like a king and tells other people what to do, and gets everything they want. NO! The really important one is the one who does what’s good for others. That’s why I came—not to have others do things for me, but to do stuff for them.” Jesus "came not to be served" Jesus did not come so that people would do something for Him. Jesus came "to serve," to do something for others. And you know what He did for others. He died to take away our sins. That’s why God made Jesus the most important one of all. Jesus was telling us that the way to be really important is to do what we can to help other people. I Wonder...
Activity: Practical ServanthoodInstead of crafts or activities, think about creating an opportunity for serving your church or wider community. You may need to work with your vicar or administrator to organise this in advance. Try to choose something with some 'fun' potential. You may like to finish with a special morning tea to celebrate your serving together.
Before you start Explain that this week is all about being a servant- doing things that help others. Share the project that you have decided on. About 10 minutes before the end of your session, clean up and share some snack food. Some suggestions: Wash the congregations cars.
Do a rubbish pickup
Make and serve a special morning tea to the congregation.
Important things to remember: Safety
Servant Leadership
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Integenerational Worship
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Practical service opportunities (as above) can also be an amazing way to do intergenerational discipleship together and to invite non-Christian friends to hang out. Think about organising an opportunity for all ages in your church community to get involved in serving their wider community together. This could involve things like:
Rubbish pickup
Tree Planting
Cooking for the community
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Media
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Jesus, the High Priest (Hebrews 5:1-10)
Intergenerational Worship
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Holiness and Humanness: Priest Material
(These resources are adapted from the material originally made available as part of the Holiness and Humanness six-week series). The book of Hebrews in the Bible is different to many of the other writings in the New Testament. It is chock-a-block full of images from ancient Israelite or Jewish religion: sacrifices, offerings, altars, prayers, bulls, goats, covenant, law, commandments, oaths, priests. Almost everything that was precious and important to their ancient faith. Almost everything. Something important is missing! But the writer to the Hebrews isn’t worried about what’s missing. Instead, they are focused on Jesus. They explain how Jesus takes the place of the thing that was no longer present. They identify Jesus as the great High Priest who never needs replacing. In today’s Creative Bible Engagement, we’ll get to use a few blocks, some dress-ups and our imaginations to work out what’s not present, why it’s not present and the reason its absence is not a problem. Based on Hebrews 5:1-10, the Creative Prayer resource comprises an extended introduction – in the form of a scripted drama – to an interactive time of prayer. Though originally written to introduce a time of praying for others and for the world, it could also be used as an introduction to a prayer of confession. From intergen.org.au |
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Tikanga Youth Sunday
Three Tikanga Youth Sunday is the closest Sunday to the 19th of October every year and it is dedicated to celebrating youth in the three Tikanga of the Anglican Church throughout Aotearoa and Polynesia. On this day we remember Tarore of Waharoa, a young girl who helped to spread the Gospel throughout Aotearoa.
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ResourcesChronicles of Paki (information on SUNZ)
Ngakuku, Tarore and the Little Book (SUNZ) St Michael's Kelburn celebrate Tikanga Youth Sunday (Anglican Taonga) |
